Napa Asylum by Sic Alps

The reverb is intact, the distortion playfully fucked with; the folk influences properly confined to the 60s, their noise sensibilities still owing itself to mid-80s/early 90s counterculture.

In fact, Napa Asylum is so rich, its peaks can be easy to miss.

A fantastic album that adds new dimensions to their sound without altering what made them so engaging to begin with.

In an album of homogenous plodding, what really stick out are the sharp spikes of dystopia that one or two tracks offer.

It’s a subtly bold step and one the band should continue to investigate, regardless of the fact that it didn’t quite work out in their favor here.